This Week in Entertainment (Feb 2012)

My pick of the Month is Pac-Man: The Complete First Season.  Like Super Mario Bros Super Show, I'm sure it'll embarrass me as an adult, but I still like to see it again. 

This Week In Entertainment (7/28/11)

My Pick of the Week is some Pac-Man game for the 3DS.  I basically want it for Pac-Man Championship Edition, but its got some other games to go along with it.


In theaters this week is Cowboys vs. Aliens.  Maybe I have bad taste but I actually think I'll see this one.  Eh, it has Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, and the trailer looked interesting.  I read somewhere that this movie was made after someone wrote a comic and shopped it around conventions. 

You know what I was just dying to see in 3D?  Not the Smurfs movie.  Why?  Why do they take the characters and put them in New York, or wherever?  Why what's-her-face?  Is she really who you want in a kids' movie?  I will say that I think Hank Azaria will steal the movie as Gargamel, and the Scottish Smurf seems like a funny idea. 

On one soiled Blu-Ray is The Blues Brothers.  Great movie.  The sequel wasn't bad but was really unnecessary. 

Also on Blu-Ray is a slideshow presentation about Leonardo DaVinci.  Remember to put this one out in the open so people think that you're so smart.

This Week In Entertainment (7/19/11)

In theaters this week is the final movie of the Marvel six.  It's Captain America.  It takes place during World War 2 but it should set up the first Avenger movie.  Kudos to Marvel for what they succeeded in doing.  It's crazy making six movies (all with about $150 million budgets) to lead up to a couple more films.  This is an easy Pick of the Week.

On Blu-Ray is Amelie.  I've never seen this movie, but I've seen the cover many time in stores, so I assume it's about a cute French alien. 

We have two DVDs about the NBA champs, the 2011 Mavericks, and the NHL Stanley Cup winner, the 2011 Bruins. (Blu-ray)  I was rooting against the latter, but watching Canadians riot is pretty funny.

Tekken the movie is about... I don't know.  Never played the games. 

We end with The Poky Little Puppy.  Man, those Little Golden Books were my childhood. 

This Week In Entertainment (7/12/11)

My Pick of the Week closes out the Harry Potter saga, at least until J.K does a reboot.  (Grittier!   More realistic!)  Here I include a picture of an Enemy Mine inspired poster.  Sure, why not?

Also out in theaters this week is Winnie the Pooh.  How many of the movies have they made since my childhood?  I remember they had a live action show on the Disney Channel and a cartoon on ABC Saturday mornings, as well as a few movies already made.  Winnie must be a huge money maker for Disney.

Phase 7 is ... I don't know, but it's given a quote by Bloody Disgusting, so here's your antidote to this week's kids movies.


On DVD we have Arthur.  Did they really remake a 30 year old movie?  (My entire experience with the Arthur series is scratching my head a few times at The Critic.)

Here's a collection of Buster Keaton shorts.  On Blu-Ray, too!   The latter are remastered and makes me wish I had Blu-Ray.  Maybe I'll get a player (and HD TV) by the end of the year.

"Spirit" of Bellydancing?  Don't you mean fleshiness?

Amazon also has a lot of series On Demand, or whatever their online streaming option is called.  Now you can watch Teen Wolf: The Series, in high definition!

This Week in Entertainment (6/28/11)

My Pick of the Week is Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.  It takes a side game from Resident Evil 4 and makes you pay forty bucks for it, but meh, I heard it looked really good.


In theaters this week is Transformers 3:  Dark Side of the Moon.  Bay actually apologized over the second one, do I'm sure this will be better.  I have yet to see a Transformers movie, by the way.  Never cared for the franchise. 

Sucker Punch is the latest Hollywood flick about women kicking butt. Question:  Why is Hollywood so bad at making those kind of movies?  It seems like something that should just work, but they seem to end up lame. 


On DVD is the complete ReBoot animated series.  I've never seen it, but I'm sure Michael Bay Jr. will make a movie about it in 20 years.

On Blu-Ray is Lord of the Rings, extended versions.  I hope that these movies replace the novels, which are boring.  Nerds are dumb.  The movies should be the ultimate canon.

Presumably like the Large Hadron Collider, only bigger.

NOW IN HIGH DEFINITION:  Lord of the Dance!

Now available: the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Any enthusiasm I may have for this series (It's being written by Not-George Lucas!  And it's kinda Star Wars, I guess.) is being tempered by the fact that I hate The Clone Wars.  And I still don't like the animation.  I'm being serious when I say it looks cheap.  You can have all the flashy glowy things but the faces on the characters still look cheap.

Finally (it's about time!) you can get all three seasons of Gilligan's Island all at once.  There would have been more, but Return to Gilligan's Island...yeah, let's not talk about that film.  The novelty of putting that show in the Relevant 70s wears off quickly.

This Week In Entertainment (6/21/11)

My Pick of the Week is this documentary about William Castle.  He was known for making horror movies in the sixties that had an audience participation gimmick.  For example, the Tingler was suppose to attach itself to people's spines, so certain seats in the theater would have a mild electric shock. 


Also out this week in theaters is Cars 2.  You know, a sequel to Pixar's weakest.  Eh, if it makes them money to make other movies, no objections here.  And Cars wasn't bad.  It was just mediocre as heck.

More like, Conan Obrien Can't Stop from getting cancelled!  (smug smile)   Note:  The writer of this post made the joke before he bothered to learn about the movie. 

You ever like an actor or actress a lot in one film, and then you never like them again?  I liked Cameron Diaz in The Mask.  Bad Teacher looks awful.  Check out the terrible quotes at the bottom of the Rotten Tomatoes page.


Did you watch Finding Nemo and liked the turtle part?  Well Turtle: The Incredible Journey is for you.


On DVD Steve McQueen stars in The Honeymoon Machine.  Geez, my generation just calls them ---- ----.

Finally, someone tells it like it is.  If only they can make more movies about every other musical genre.

The first season of the wonderfully insane Mr. T cartoon is here.

No, this isn't that play by the South Park guys.  Trapped by Mormons is a 1920s film. 

Besides that anti-Mormon film, there was a ton of DVDs from the 1920s.  So many that I just skipped them.  But here's this shorts collection. 

At least that's only a bat.




I don't watch basketball, but I'm always complaining that you can't buy sports games or watch them online.  So I support the fact that the NBA conference finals are available for purchase.  Of course, it would be nice if they sold the games in a set.  Here's game one of Bulls/Heat and game one of Mavs/Formersonics.  You'll have to find the rest.



In video games, we have Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.  I know I probably come off as a Nintendo fanboy, but I'm sick of Ocarina of Time.  It wasn't even the best N64 Zelda.

Movie tie-in:  Cars 2 for Wii and DS.  How come the DS version has online support but the Wii doesn't?

It seems bold to me to make a race game for the console that already has a Mario Kart game.  Oh, they're Super Karts?  That'll do.

Gummy Bears Magic Medallion.  Yeah, the Wii is really starting to wind down.

Finally, I like that the icon for this game seems to be astounded by the game's goofy title.  A title that includes a question mark, no less.

This Week in Entertainment (6/14/11)

My Pick of the Week is the sequel to Wii Play.  It's Wii Play: Motion!  It's fifty dollars, and for that you get a Wii Motion Plus controller and a ten dollar game.  Eh, worth it if you ask me.


Also out this week in theaters is Green Lantern.  This movie didn't exactly look good, and the lack of reviews at Rotten Tomatoes isn't filling me with confidence.  Look at this sneakiness:

Way to make it look like the early buzz is good, guys.

Mr Poppler's Penguin is a Jim Carrey movie.  Too bad it isn't the 90s anymore.


On DVD is an all-time bad movie classic, Johnny Mnemonic, in blu-ray!  Watch this film and marvel at the fact that they even dared to make The Matrix after this one.

I guess Circus of the Stars wasn't enough, so there was also Celebrity Bowling.  TV in the seventies wasn't very good.

Hellraiser 7:  Not a good subtitle.


On the 3DS is Cubic Ninja.  I'm a sucker for graphics like these.

This Week in Entertainment (6/7/11)

It's E3 week!  But that doesn't mean nothing gets released this week.  Today I'm picking the collection of Superman movies in blu-ray as my Pick of the Week.  We're talking about HD versions of a series that went from highs, to lows, to "that's it?!"


Also out this week in theaters is Super 8.  I've forgotten the trailer already but it's got J.J. Abrams with Steven Spielberg.  That's not a bad combo, right?

I assume it's based on a series of childrens' books, but "Judy Moody"?  Really?  Also, look at Heather Graham in that poster.  Tell me who this is being marketed to.

No, TrollHunter is not about people being angry at the Internet.  It's about people looking for rock creatures.


On DVD (and blu-ray) is a cartoon tie-in.   This one is for the Green Lantern.

This seems to be real.  The Big C is a show about cancer.  Did I mention that it seems to be a comedy?  What the hell?

If a show about teenagers doesn't have an episode where a teen lies on his bed all day with their head propped up on a pillow while playing video games, than I just won't understand what the show is talking about.

Do you have a blu-ray player and a 3D television?  Have some sharks, and if that's not enough take these whales and dolphins.


In the world of video games, we have some terrible tie-in games.  Yep, there is a Green Lantern movie coming out that will probably also be terrible.


Tonight 3DS owners can download Excitebike 3D for free.  In a month it'll be five bucks.

They can also download a Pokedex 3D for all the monsters from the latest poke games.  Which sucks because I haven't followed the series since Red.  Supposedly you can get monsters through Street Pass.

This Week In Entertainment (5/30/11)

X-Men: First Class

My Pick of the Week is the newest X-Men movie.  The last two has admittedly left me underwhelmed, and prequel is a dirty word to fans nowadays, but what the heck.  It's got Emma Frost for nerds to drool over.

What does it say about Chicago if the Cubs are its heart and soul?  (Gotta love that it's Blu-Ray.  100+ years of futility, in 1080p!)

I clicked this link thinking:  Isn't "classic" the wrong word for dinosaurs?

Genius proven by art cover.

New Morals for Old (1932):  The date and title just scream:  We got to get this done before the Hays Codes take effect!

This DVD teaches you how to direct movies.  Making a movie is on my bucket list, among the many many hobbies I'll pick up for the week and get bored of quickly.  I wonder if they have any pointers on directing a film with a Flip Video Camera.


In theaters is Turkey Bowl.  If they don't get John Madden to do the commentary...Also, why don't Madden games have a turkey football mode? 

Putt Putt Syndrome is a movie about how you forfeit on that one damn hole where you have to go up a hill.  I hate those holes!

On the DS, this collection will remind players why people got excited about Duke Nukem Forever long before it became a punchline.

This Week in Entertainment (5/23/11)

My Pick of the Week is The Great Dictator, by Charlie Chaplin. This was the first full length film to criticize Hitler (at least in America. The Hays Codes prevented people from making overtly political films.) I think I read somewhere that it may have inspired the Three Stooges to make You Natzy Spy! Here's a clip of the globe scene.


Also out this week is a DVD of that wedding that happened recently. Hey, it's five bucks for women wearing goofy hats.

For 80 bucks you can own the complete Kids in the Hall series. I have Season One thanks to a friend, but I only watched half of it because I'm a jerk. I'll finish it someday!

I like Jon Lovitz from The Critic and The Simpsons but I don't think I've seen him in anything else, except High School High. I'm not sure how I would react to this comedy club featuring him. I do know that Showtime isn't really my thing. Showtime is like a lazier HBO.

Gnomeo and Juliet is about... look, I bet they just came up with the title and then slapped "generic 3d animated film" onto it. Prove me wrong and I will give you a credit at Tork's Blog.


In theaters is Kung Fu Panda 2. I haven't seen the first one because, you know, Dreamworks. By the way, nice poster. Way to ignore the Dreamworks face criticism.

I once saw an experiment where a teacher split her students up and made them ostracize each other based on eye color. The Wave kind of sounds like that, although I don't know how you make a feature length film about that kind of thing.

On Blu-Ray are a couple Civil War movies: Gettysburg, and Gods and Generals. Nothing against Civil War enthusiasts, because it really is a fascinating part of America's history, but it's also safe. It's easier to argue about things from the distant past because it's not a threat to the present.

A couple of Jackie Chan films: Operation Condor and Twin Dragons.



On the 3DS is Dead or Alive: Dimensions. Because breasts.

I don't know what 99Bullets is about, but I'm a sucker for anything that has a "retro look". 500 Nintendo Points.

This Week In Entertainment (5/17/11)

I have two Pick of the Weeks. I can't choose one Rifftrax Live Show over the other, can I? From last year, we have Reefer Madness and House on Haunted Hill.


Also out this week in theaters is the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean. It has to be better than the third movie, right? At least we dump the girl and her love interest, right? And maybe have more Barbossa, the only good thing about movie three.

Hard Breakers is a movie about two women who kidnap men and...WHA?! Is this really a The Violent Years-type movie? And jeez, one of the attackers is "good" and one of them is "bad." What more can I .... Oh dear. The one review up at Rotten Tomatoes makes it sound more like a comedy. Yeesh.


On DVD is a Thor animated movie. Shouldn't this been out a week earlier to capitalize on the film?

These two Abott and Costello movies are new releases, I guess. Rio Rita and Abott and Costello Meets Captain Kidd.

Cigarette commercials, the beer commercials of their time! I hope they include all the dancing cigarette ones.

Corporate Cut Throat Massacre is about competition or something. If it was the eighties it would just end up being a slasher film.

On Virtual Console is Chrono Trigger, the greatest game about time travel. I defy you to find a game that implements time travel better than this one, and it's just an RPG. I hope this is the original translation, because if it doesn't have "Sir Slush!" I'll be annoyed.

This Week in Entertainment (5/8/11)

My Pick of the Week is Soul of the Bellydance. As someone who has used Amazon for years for DVD entries, I've seen hundreds of bellydancing DVDs. This one may be the first to discuss the soul of the whole thing. Or maybe it's another tutorial for housewives. I wouldn't know.



In theaters this week is the terrible looking People vs George Lucas. Now, I LOVE Plinkett, so I don't mind people taking shots at Lucas for the trilogy, but this documentary looks like a bunch of whiney nerds making bad arguments, which will make Lucas look good. I have my doubts about this film.

I saw Priest advertised at a GameSpot. Enough said?

On DVD is some Justin Beiber movie. When I was a kid, I laughed at jokes about killing Barney. Now I just want to slap anybody who think "Justinbeiber!" is a punchline.

Good gravy! A twentieth anniversary edition of Home Improvement? I still can't believe that show lasted beyond it's highly rated first two seasons.

I know that KissMe Girls: Girls Kissing is probably about, but looking at the title I laugh at the idea of someone buying it and being disappointed that it's just kissing. "Whoo!! WHOO! Whoooooo! ... Aren't they going to do something else?" (No, I'm not providing a link.)


On Wii Virtual Console is MDK 2, a game about huge bosses and those wacky scientist levels. I was surprised by the game's sense of humor when I played it for the PS2. Pick it up for ten bucks.

This Week in Entertainment (5/3/11)

It's summer already? It is in Hollywood. The blockbusters are coming out.


Thor is one of them. I'm not a comic book fan, but I am a comic book movie fan so I'll probably see it. I don't know if the hero is a god or not but he does have a Shao Kahn hammer as a weapon.

Also out in theaters is this movie. I hate to say, "the jokes write themselves" because that's lazy, but it's a movie about mental illness starring Mel Gibson. It's the lowest of low fruits.

(Note that the Rotten Tomatoes URL gives a year of release as 2010. I smell trouble.)

Oh, good one! Why would you even give a hobo a shotgun? (I just read the synopsis and noticed that it contained the f word. That probably sums up who the movie is being marketed to.)


On DVD is two thing that the Internet ruined, now in one movie! It's Ninjas vs Vampires.

I was just amused by the box cover. It's kind of like Enemy Mine, with more breasts.

This Week In Entertainment (4/12/11)

Hey, remember that thing we should have done three movies ago? Finally we split a Harry Potter movie into two parts so its more than a "Greatest Hits" film. I missed the first movie in theaters so I'm glad this is coming out before the final movie.


More later...

This Week In Entertainment (4/5/11)

My Pick of the Week is Tron: Legacy DVD for two reasons: I missed it in theaters and I wish I hadn't, and I think the gal on the movie poster looks attractive. In fact...!




You know, I've never seen the first movie, either. For a long time I thought Tron was just an arcade game with a big blue stick.

Also out this week in theaters is Soul Surfer, a movie about a woman who surfs after a shark bites her arm off. Yikes. Notice how the poster shows her non-severed arm.

The Bill Hicks Story, as far as I can tell from my admittedly limited research, is a cross between Man on the Moon and The People Vs Larry Flynt. In other words, rehabilitation of an unfunny comedian with a laughable free speech angle tacked on. (Man, there are times I'm glad I don't have an audience.)

After reading the premise for this movie, I'm surprised Jack Black doesn't a star in it.

On DVD is one of the Narnia movies. I don't know which one because it's been a while since I read the second book and I haven't seen any of the movies. From what I understand they were written out of order.

Watch as a respected actor gains weight! (Man, what a lazy joke.)

From what I've heard, she had quite a few words. At least in the book that's soon going to be a big film.

Finally, a film about the people behind the cameras.


And lastly, the Jabberjaw collection. Get this, it's a Scooby Doo clone except with a shark! And he talks like a cross between Curly Howard and Rodney Dangerfield! Isn't that just nutty?!

This Week in Entertainment (3/29/11)

My Pick of the Week is the Nintendo 3DS. It was technically released yesterday, but Sunday is a silly day to release something.


Also out this week is Source Code, which is sadly not about looking at lines of code for 90 minutes. You know, the only good part of The Matrix? The plot sounds a bit like Groundhog's Day, only as a thriller.

Christmas gets a lot of attention for a holiday that isn't as important as Easter. This 3D animated film tries to fix that, I assume.

Rubber is the story of a murderous tire. Part of me thinks that you should be able to write well no matter how dumb the the premise is. You know, challenge yourself. The other part thinks that maybe the public is clamoring for new ideas but this isn't what they mean.

On DVD we have Black Swan, a movie that earned Natalie Portman an oscar for pretending she didn't use a stuntman.

Tangled was Disney's continuing clumsy attempt to make 3D films without Pixar. Good thing you held onto them, right Disney?

The greatest American show about the Cold War is back. It's Bullwinkle and Rocky: Volume Five.

How can you not like Charlton Heston as Moses? Even as a kid I thought his Moses was laying it on thick but that's also why I love the movie.

I guess they're re-releasing the Xena seasons. Season 2 was aired locally on primetime on the WB, and it was a fun season. Not to serious like it got later on in the later third and fourth seasons. I lost track of the show went it went to India and into syndication.

Are you kidding me? Are you really releasing Ace Ventura Jr as if it was some companion piece to the two Ace films? That's like if I filmed my own version of Mortal Kombat and it was released with the two other movies. (Imagine me dressing in a cheap ninja costume and throwing a rope at somebody. That's good enough, right?)

The 80s had Friday the 13th, but it also had Police Academy. It was beginning of the summer blockbuster franchises and I guess they hadn't quite ironed everything out. How long until they reboot the series, or have they already done that?

This Week In Entertainment (3/21/11)

My Pick of the Week is a Lego game. I'm not happy with the fact that it's based on the "Who Cares?" Clone Wars, but it's still a Tell Tales Lego game, so good enough for me. There's also a DS version and a 3DS version coming out soon.


In theaters, did you ever notice that Hollywood isn't very good at making movies with female action heroes? (Also, check out the URL? 2010? I smell "delayed and dumped in a forgettable month!)

On DVD is that Yogi Bear movie. Just a name that screamed 3D film for the holidays 50 years after it's relevance.

Hey look, there's a movie that's number on in America. Let's release a similarly named DVD now!

I admit that I list this video solely for the boxart.

Did you know that they made four Brady movies? Did we even need one movie? Yeah, it mocked a bad tv show, but you're suppose to move on after that.

This doesn't strike me as "edgy" since we now live in the porn era.

I see a LOT of belly dancing videos listed at Amazon week to week. So this wasn't too surprising, but it seems like it should have aired on some channel. Seems like ratings gold to me.

And she can stay away!

This Week In Entertainment (3/14/11)

My Pick of the Week is this DVD of Gamera vs Zigra, paired with another Gamera movie. Why? Because it's a slow week. It's the Gamera movie where...I don't know.


Because John Goodman is hefty, you see.


Pfft, every century thinks that theirs is the best.

Man, Snoop must have run out of money when he made this.

I bet you they put both triumphs and tragedies on both DVDs so you can't avoid either. Jerks.

I'm not saying you shouldn't watch these because you should for historical purposes. But you might want to hide them afterwards. People might misunderstand.

Because her one music video where she tried to kill her boyfriend was the most accurate look on women I've ever seen. No, I don't have issues!

This Week In Entertainment (3/7/11)

My Pick of the first third of 2011 is Mystery Science Theater Volume XX. It's an all-Joel edition. The episodes included are Project Moonbase, Master Ninja 1, Master Ninja 2, and The Magic Voyage of Sinbad.


Also out this week is this summary of Super Bowl XLV. I hope it includes several angles of Big Ben's pick six.

The Game Show Network is going to revive Whose Line is it Anyway?, so why not prepare for that by picking up this copy of a live show by stars Colin Mocherie and Brad Sherwood.

Grover is Jewish. Who knew?

Despite what conspiracy theorists tell you, these things actually happened.

I assume the story goes, "I was too drunk and I missed the bus that exploded" but I don't know how you make a movie or documentary about that.

The Indian Three Stooges! I assume. Maybe they'll do the Maharaja routine.


In theaters we get the Twilight-ification of Little Red Riding Hood. You stink, 12 year old girls. (Or any woman who still acts like they're that age.)

Mars Needs Moms. Doesn't that title sounds like something that would be released straight to video? Well, it is March.

As bad as Mars Needs Moms sound, at least it doesn't look like a big budget movie that's about to flop this month.

Ever notice that colleges don't really teach anything and is more concerned with entertaining its unchaperoned crowd? Just asking.


In vidya game news, Pokemon Black and White was released today. I can't wait for the terrible race jokes this game will get.

Hey look, a baseball game for the Wii. Do they still do the motion controls thing anymore?

This Week In Entertainment (November 2010)

Remember when Futurama was coming back on the air and I was excited? Well, it took me three episodes before I stopped watching the first Comedy Central season. Not because anything was bad, but because I just don't care about anything on TV anymore. TV is a distant fourth in my entertainment hobbies behind video games, the internet, and DVDs.

Anyway, here is the DVD set for that season. Maybe it's time for me to do some catching up.